Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Carnival da Venezia

The island of Burano is so colorful with every building being a bright color. You can't not be cheerful at this place.

We had a quick demo of some glass blowing/forming on Murano. The man in the sweater was so happy to show off what his shop is capable of. The showroom was spectacular, unfortunately photos weren't allowed.These two pieces were completed in about 10 minutes.One of the many show windows at MuranoOne of the first things I saw on Venice was a violinist in a fancy mask. You think things like this only happen in movies.Piazza de San Marco was full up, again, the word is spectacular.San Marco's clock tower. Oddly, it's named after a saint and has zodiac symbols. The intricate design with the coloring is the typical Venetian style of the mix of Mediterranean and Arabic.San Marco's cathedral. I find I'm amazed at every inch of architecture in Italy has something on it, hardly any blank space.Ponte Rialto is pretty interesting although smaller than I remember it.This was my most favorite moment here. It was a surreal scene of a number of boatmen all dressed in the same period costume floating on a turquoise canal. Note they are not gondolas, gondolas are the black boats with the axe-like blade upfront.